Tim Fitzpatrick in one of his three first place finishes at the Arditi Gli del Nirone triathlon series in Italy.

Fitzpatrick said his best race was the road duathlon as he achieved personal goals and raced stronger competition to finish in second.

‘‘I definitely wasn’t expecting the results I got,’’ he said. ‘‘I’ve been putting in the hard yards, so to get some good times and good results makes the hard work worth it.

‘‘It also shows me where I am currently sitting fitness wise so I know what I need to work on and build from there.’’

It’s been a good test ahead of the Xterra which is an off road triathlon specialist event organiser, racing all around the world, combining swimming with mountain biking and trail running.

The typical distances are a 1.5k swim, 30k mountain bike and a 10km trail run.

‘‘I have always known that training is the key,’’ he said.

‘‘But getting the balance is tough.

‘‘I’m not a professional athlete. I have worked as an electrician since starting triathlon, and that is tough, physical work, with early starts normally meaning only one training session a day.’’

He moved to Albury in 2016 with his girlfriend Matilda (Tilly) Terry to be coached by Fabrizio Andreoni, who was the reason Fitzpatrick got involved with the DDS team with Terry’s brother Connor also joining for the summer.

‘‘It meant I had a good training squad to train with, and those limited hours could be put to good use,’’ he said.

‘‘I decided to have a real crack at triathlons after Tilly came to DDS in 2015.

‘‘I visited Italy for a holiday, saw how things went on at DDS, then raced triathlons all over Victoria for the next two years which leads me to now.

‘‘I talk to my parents every few days and my girlfriend almost daily while I’m over here.

‘‘But most of my support was from the DDS team, Simonè the coach, as well as one of the assistant coaches Daniele Bargeli.’’

His next challenge is some racing near Lake Como, also close to Milan, before a solid month training including a few weeks with some altitude training following Xterra Italy.

He will compete in the age group world championships on September 14 over Olympic distance (1.5km swim, 40km ride, 10km run).